Rs 25 Lakh KBC Lottery message goes viral again. Know what to do to stay alert..

Delhi Police has clarified that the viral message is a fraud message targeting innocents for personal information or money.

Another day, another WhatsApp scam is making rounds again. This time an old WhatsApp scam is recirculating again. Scammers on social media are circulating a message that states that the receiver has won Rs 25 lakh worth lottery by ‘KBC’ (acronym for the game show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’).

For the fraud, to look authentic, scammers are using photos of Amitabh Bachchan, Narendra Modi, Anil Ambani and Kaun Banega Crorepati’s (KBC) name and logo. The message is being sent from a non-Indian number and sometimes from an Indian number that includes a poster image stating that the user has won Rs 25 lakh prize money in a lottery. 

The message then asks the user to call the number given in the poster and inform about winning the lottery. The scammers have created several posters with different number and lottery ticket number. 

We received these posters on our WhatsApp Fact line number 9049053770 for verification.

Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a keyword search on Google that led us to the website of Delhi’s Cyber Cell. They mentioned that this message is a fraud KBC lottery. 

They wrote “When the victim contacts on the mentioned number to claim the amount, the fraudster tells him/her that they need to first pay a certain refundable amount towards the processing of the lottery as well as GST, etc. Once the victim deposits that money, they start demanding for more on one pretext or another. The fraudsters insist on communicating only through WhatsApp. They induce the victim to deposit money in various bank accounts and the entire fraud goes on for several weeks and even months for as long as they can keep inducing the victim to deposit money. After some time, they start telling the victim that the lottery amount has been increased further to Rs. 45 lakhs, then to Rs. 75 lakhs, so on to keep the victim engaged and interested. Finally, when the victim starts insisting on getting the money or refuses to pay more, they stop calling him/her and discontinue the WhatsApp numbers that were being used in the fraud.”

We also found a clarification tweet by PIB Fact Check who called out the viral message as Fake. They also insist users not to share their personal information on such calls, mails and messages.

How to identify these scams?

1) A closer look into such messages will show poor drafting, grammatical errors, and other glaring signs that the message is not genuine.

2) In any genuine lottery or prize, the tax component and other charges are cut from the prize money and the winner gets the deducted amount. So ask yourself the question that why you have to pay these charges in advance to get the so-called lottery money. This is because it is a fraud and you have not won any money.

3) In the caller insists on maintaining secrecy, it is a sign that there is something fishy about the whole thing.

4) Messages from an unknown number should be taken as a warning sign. 

What are the safety precaution you can take?

1) As soon as you suspect a message to be a scam, block the number.

2) Never open messages from a suspicious phone number. In this case, a non-Indian number.

3) Never click on suspicious links or share OTP with anyone.

4) Never forward such messages to anyone.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo has found the viral KBC lottery of Rs 25 lakh prize is a scam. This message is a fraud message seeking to collect your personal information to misuse in future or to collect money from you. The images and posters are created to dupe users and steal their hard-earned money. Please beware of such messages and forward any such doubtful message to Fact Crescendo before forwarding to your loved ones.